Maine’s first foe battling turmoil Matadors coach taking new job

Cal State Northridge is pretty much an unknown commodity to the University of Maine baseball team.

Based on the Matadors’ 40-15 record, the Black Bears do know they’ll face a quality opponent when the teams meet Friday at 10 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional at the University of Southern California’s Dedeaux Field.

However, another major distraction has reared its head this week for Northridge. Fresno State University announced Tuesday that it has hired Matadors coach Mike Batesole as its head baseball coach.

The 38-year-old Batesole had guided the Matadors to the Big West Conference championship this season. Northridge is ranked as high as 15th in this week’s Division I polls. The report on the Fresno State Web site did not address whether Batesole would coach the Matadors this week at the NCAA Regional and the coach did not return a call made Tuesday to the Northridge baseball office.

Northridge, in only its second season of Big West play, ended Cal State Fullerton’s five-year stranglehold on the league title. The Matadors have won five in a row and 15 of their last 17, but have been idle since its May 19 regular-season finale.

In spite of the coaching situation, Northridge could pose plenty of problems for UMaine.

“This is a huge challenge and this is where the Clemson series helps out,” said UMaine coach Paul Kostacopoulos, whose team played a three-game series against a team then ranked No. 1 in the country. “We can walk into a park with a lot of people and we can be in a little bit of a hostile environment.”

The Matadors have been exposed to high-caliber teams more often, having played the likes of nationally ranked Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, the other Big West teams to qualify for the 64-team NCAA Tournament, three times each.

Northridge features a pair of outstanding lefthanded pitchers in Bill Murphy and Andy Davidson, both All-Big West first-team picks. Murphy, a junior, is 9-3 with a 3.43 earned run average this season. He has racked up 127 strikeouts in 102 1/3 innings and ranks 12th in the nation with 12 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents are hitting a paltry .224 against him.

Davidson, a senior, boasts an 11-2 record with a 4.09 ERA and 70 strikeouts. His 11 wins are tied for seventh most in the country.

The Northridge staff has relied heavily on four primary starters, but it also features a strong relief specialist in junior righthander Phil Polanco. The team has a solid 4.60 ERA and nearly a 2-1 strikeouts to walks ratio.

The Matadors’ offensive catalyst is No. 3 hitter Shaun Larkin, the second baseman. The lefthanded hitting senior, an all-league pick, led the Big West in on-base percentage (.508), walks (56) and slugging percentage (.677).

Larkin also tops Northridge with a .364 batting average that includes 15 home runs and 48 RBIs. The Matadors led the conference by averaging 7.9 runs per game.

Other top producers include junior right fielder Eric Verbryke (.335, 14 HR, 52 RBIs, 12 stolen bases), the Big West Player of the Year, along with all-league sophomore third baseman Ryan Haag (.346, 2 HR, 23 RBI) and senior first baseman Tim Arroyo (.309, 10 HR, 48 RBI).

All of them are lefthanded hitters.

The Matadors ranked sixth in the Big West defensively with a .962 fielding percentage, committing 85 errors (1.5 per game).

Northridge has bounced back nicely after the program was dropped for the 1996-1997 season because of budget constraints at the school. Paul Bubb, who July becomes UMaine’s interim athletic director, was the AD at Northridge at the time.

Behind Batesole, the Matadors responded with a 37-19 record the following season. He was named the Collegiate Baseball Division I Coach of the Year in 1998.